Method and machine for coating leather and the like



1,625,434 Aprll 19, 1927. J T SMITH METHOD AND MACHINE FOR COATINGLEATfiER AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 23. 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 A 11v ENTOR.

BY W ATTORNEYS.

1,625,434 Aprll 19, 1927. J T. SMITH METHOD AND MACHINE FOR COATINGLEATHER AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 23, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

J k, BY 6144414 $3 M ATTORNEYS.

1,625,434 Aprll 19, 1927. Y J. T. SMITH METHOD AND MACHINE FOR COATINGLEATHER AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 23. 1924 3 sheets-sheet 5 IN VEN TOR.

BY m p ,ATTORNEYS.

Patented Apr. 19, 1927.

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES '1. SMITH, or NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR COATING LEATHER AND THE LIKE.

Application filed August 23, 1924. Serial No. 733,723.

The general object of this invention is to enable one side of a piece ofleather in the course of manufacture to be I coated with daub by machineinstead of by hand as is now commonly done, the other side being keptclean during such coating. It will be understood that the leather to becoated passes over a supporting and feeding roll, the coating beingapplied to the side opposite said roll, and that because of theirregular outline of the piece of leatherthe roll necessarily getssmeared from the coating means which extends longitudinally'of the rollbeyond the leather and is in circumferential engagement therewith beforeand after the leather is superposed thereon. Coatings of liquids of athin consistency have heretofore been applied by machine, to one side ofa piece of leather, a scraper being employed against the roll whichsupports the clean or uncoated side of the leather to remove any of thecoating material therefrom before the roll comes into contact with theleather; however, the daub which is applied by my improved machine -isof too thick consistency and sets too quickly to be removed by anyscraper and will pass such scraper and become smeared upon the undersideof the leather which is desired to be kept clean and uncoated. It is thepurpose of the present invention to provide a coating machine includingmeans for removing such thick daub from the under part of the roll whichsupports the uncoated side of the leather; to enable this to be donesimply and conveniently; to provide means for doing it which can beapplied to coating machines already in use; to secure improved means forfeeding the daub to the coating means by which it is applied to theleather; to thus enable the supply of liquid to be quickly andpositively controlled, with no waste, and to obtain other advantages andresults as may be brought out by the following description.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which the same referencenumerals designate corresponding and like parts throughout the severalviews,

Figure 1 is an elevation of the left-hand end of a machine of myimproved construction as shown in Figure 2;

Figure 2 is an elevation of the machine from the delivery side thereof;

Figure 3 is an elevation of a portion of the right-hand end of themachine as shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a cross-section of the machine on line 4-4 of Figure 2,looking in the direction of the arrows, and

F gure 5 is a vertical central longitudinal section of the right-handend of the feeding cylinder as shown in Figure 2.

In said drawings-I have shown my improvements applied to a coatingmachine winch is in general of an old and wellknown construction, havingend frames or housings 1, 2 adapted to stand upon the floor and supportbetween themselves a lon roll 3 over which the leather to be coatepasses from a table 4 at one side of the machine, it being understoodthat a couple of workmen push the piece or side of leather inwardly onsaid table 4 until it is engaged by the supporting roll 3 and otherworkmen receive the coated piece of leather as it comes from the otherside of'the machine, which is the side shown in Figure 2. Above thesupporting roll 3 are coating brushes 5, 6 which are driven in thedirection indicated by the arrows by means of the sprocket chains 7, 8and driving pulley 9, or other equivalent means. See Figure 1 and theleft-hand end of'rFigure 2. Above the coating brush 5 is a fluted roll10 which receives the coating material from a pan 11 and feeds itto thebrush 5. In front of said fluted roll 10 and brush 5 is a guard plate 12extending upward from the inner end of the table 4;, and-*it will beunderstood that said coating brushes 5, 6, fluted roll 10 and pan 11 areall adjustable in any common and well-known manner. They, and the guard12 and table 4, are all mounted upon the end frames l, 2 as is old inthe art.

The leather passes in over the table 4 and supporting. roll 3, beneaththe brushes 5 and 6 which coat it with the desired ma- 13 located infront of the supporting roll 3 underneath the table 4 and capableof'being adjusted into close contact with the surface of the roll toremove therefrom any coat: ing-upon the surface of said roll. Such ascraper accomplishes its purpose with coatings of thin consistency, ormade with slow drying vegetable oils, but it has been found that withcoatings of thick consistency, such as pieces of leather are firstdaubed with in the course of manufacture with pigment finishcs, scraperswill not sutlice to remove smears or deposits of coating fron thesurface of the supporting roll and enough will pass them to still soilor discolor the under surface of the leather. Especially is this sobecause collodion and similar volatile solvents are used insuch heavythick coatings and such solvents evaporate very quickly. t has thereforebeen considered necessary to a ply such heavy coatings or daubs topieces 0? leather by hand, but because of the volatile solvents referredto it is very difficult to do this evenly, smoothly and economically andit ra uires much labor and large ex- It is the primary purpose of myinvention to enable such heavy thick coatings or daubsto be ap lied bymachine, and thus quickly, uniform y and economically.

Tothis end I place beneath the supporting roll 3 a trough 14, seeFigures 4 and 2, which extends longitudinally the full length of theroll and is supported in an stable manner, as by cradles 15 upon the tierods 16. This trough contains a, solvent 17 of the daub or coating to beapplied, said solvent standing high enough in the trough 14 to immerseciently so that the scra the lower portion of the supporting roll 3, andthus as the su porting roll turns in the direction shown the arrow,Figure 4, any smears or deposits of the daubing or coating material comearound to the solvent 17 in the pan 14 and will be softened suitir 13just above the an 14 at the front si e of the roll can efectivelyand'entirely remove them from the surface of the supporting roll. Inthis way the surface of the supporting roll 3 as it.

comes around to be presented to the under side of the leather adjacentthe table 4 is always perfectly clean, and said under surface 0 theleather will not become smeared or soiled so as to render it unsalable.

lreferabl I provide at the delivery side of the mac inc some means forguarding against any possibility of the leather getting into the trough14 as said leather leaves the supporting roll 3, such as sheet metalfingers 26 extending from the edge of the trough, as at 27, upwardly toa circumferential part of the roll adjacent the coating roll 6, as shownin Figures 2 and 4, and forming an incline'to guide the leather untilthe operatives get hold of it.

In describing the old and well-known features of the machine to which myim- I use of volatile solvents, from which objcc-,

tionable vapors arise, a ventilating hood 20, shown in Figure 1, isusually suspended over machines of this type.

In order to more quickly and accurately control the supply of coating ordaub t0 the fluted feed roll 10,-1 may station above said fluted roll afeeding cylinder 21 which extends longitudinallv of the machine and isrotatably supported as by means of brackets 22, 22. Coating material isintroduced into this cylinder by any suitable means (not shown) through:1. pi 23 which leads into one end of the cylin er, as shown in detailin Figure 5, so as to also form a journal for it to turn on. I haveshown the end portion 28 of the pipe 23, beyond the elbow 29, providedinside the cap 30 of the cylinder with a fixed collar 31 and outsidesaid cap with a screw collar 32 which can be tightened against a gasket33 to prevent leakage, but any other suitable means might be employed.The cylinder has a longitudinal discharge, specifically shown as a slit24, and when this is turned downwardly the coating or daub willobviously be disehar ed to supply the fluted roll 10. The cylin or 21 isprovided with a handle 25 or other suitably equivalent means for turningit, and by so turning it that the slit 24 is uppermost, discharge of thecoatin material can be quickly and entirely cut 0 This is desirable inorder to avoid smearing upon the supporting roll 3 any more of thecoating material or daub than is absolutely necessary.

The trough 14 obviously collects and saves all of the coating which doesnot go onto the leather, and from time to time it can be drawn oil, asby the valve 34', Figures 2 and 4.

Various modifications and changes may be made in manufacturing myimprovements thus described, by those skilled in the art,withoutdeparting from the spirit and sco e of the invention, and I donot wish to understood as restricting myself except as required by thefollowing claims when construed in the light of the prior art.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

1. The herein described method of coating one side surface of leather orthe like, which consists in passing the leather or the like over asupporting roll, applying the coating material to the opposite side ofthe leather or the like from said roll asit passes thereover, immersingthat portion of the roll away. from the leather or the like in a solventof the coating material, and scraping the surface of the roll after ithas been so immer: ed and before it engages the leather or the like.

2. In a machine of the character described, the combination with meansfor progressively SLlppOl'tlllg' a piece of leather or the like andmeans for applying coating material to said leather or the like, of arotatable hollow cylinder having longitudinal discharge means forfeeding the coating material to be applied, and means for turning saidcylinder tov start and stop discharge from it.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination with a rollover which a piece of leather may be passed, and means for applying acoating to the surface of the leather away from said roll and oppositethe same, of a trough beneath the roll adapted to hold a-solvent of thecoating and posi-' tioned with respect to said roll so as to immerse theunderpart thereof in the solvent in the trough, and a scraper forengaging the surface of said roll after it leaves said solvent andbefore it reaches the leather to remove the solvent and coating materialtherefrom.

4. In a machine of the character described, the combination with meansfor progres:

sively supporting a piece of leather or the like and means for applyingcoating material to said leather or the like, of a rotatable hollowcylinder having longitudinal discharge means, means for turning saidcylinder to start and stop discharge from it, and means for supplyingcoating material to said cylinder independent of its turning.

5. In a machine of the character described, the combination with meansfor progressively supporting a piece of leather or the like and meansfor applying coating material to said leather or the like, of arotatable hollow cylinder having a longitudinal dischargeslit, means forturning said cylinder to start and stop discharge from it, and means forsupplying coating material to said cylinderindependent of its turning.

6. In a machine of the character described, the combination with a rollover which a pieceof leather may be passed, and means for applying acoating to the surface of the leather away from said roll and oppositethe same, of a trough beneath the roll adapted to hold a solvent of thecoating in contact with the under part of the roll, a scraper forengaging the surface of said roll after it leaves said solvent andbefore it reaches the leather to remove the solvent and coating materialtherefrom, and fingers extending from said trough to the roll to keepthe leather out of the trough.

7. In a machine of the character described, the combination with a rollover which a piece of leather may be passed, and means for applying acoating to the surface of the leather away from said roll and oppositethe.

same, of a trough beneath the roll adapted to hold a solvent of thecoating in contact with the under part of the roll, a scraper forengaging the surface of said roll after it leaves said solvent andbefore it reaches the leather to remove the solvent and coat- JAMES T.SMITH.

